


You Good?

by mevanss



Series: Soul Eater Avatar AU [1]
Category: Soul Eater
Genre: Alternate Universe - Avatar & Benders Setting, F/M, Gen, M/M, ResBang 2016, i just want to write avatar au's for my whole life tbh, im kinda mad happy with this ngl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-11
Updated: 2017-02-11
Packaged: 2018-09-23 11:36:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9655679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mevanss/pseuds/mevanss
Summary: War broke out in Ba Sing Se years ago, with Earth Queen Medusa at the throne. After receiving a mysterious letter after a protest gone wrong, Maka and Black*Star are thrown into a mess of politics, a little bit of crime, and a bunch of new people.





	

 

“Shit! Shit, Maka, dude you gotta stay awake, alright. Don’t close your eyes, just stay awake. We’ll be home soon, and, um, we’ll tell Nygus you were jumped or something? Alright, just _come on, please_ stay awake!” Maka was on Black*Stars’s back and he was running as fast as he could. They’d been living in the Outer Ring of Ba Sing Se for years now, but up until recently, they had been fine. They were fine until bending was classified as taboo. They were fine until their guardians had been stripped of their jobs because they were benders. They were fine until the government had ruined anything and everything.

 

Ever since bending had been made illegal, things were bad. Really, really bad. There was to be no bending, and if you broke that rule, you could be punished with death, or even worse, sent to work for the Earth Queen. That, of course, was only if you got caught, and Maka and Black*Star had made it their job _not_ to. They’d started a resistance. It’d seemed like a great idea at the time. They would rally some other people, most likely a bunch of younger kids, maybe like four angry old men, and they’d protest. Like picket the inner circle, or sit on the Earth Queen’s porch. It was never supposed to get this out of hand. People weren’t supposed to _die_.

 

“Come on Maka, come on, just stay with me alright! You’re gonna be just fine,” Black*Star choked out, trying to run faster than he already was. The police had showed up at the rally. To put the rally to an end, they’d blown up the building. It just _blew up_ . Then there was screaming and there was blood, so much blood, and Raava, Harvar was _dead_. He and Harvar used to best friends. They played dodgerock after school everyday, and now he was dead.

  
But Maka, she was alive. He’d found her on the ground, barely moving, and he could hardly recognize her. What had given her away were the pigtails. Her face was so bruised and bloody he wouldn’t have been able to identify her otherwise. His sister, his best friend, was probably dying at this moment, on his back. It was all her damned fault too. He’d gone along with it. Of course he did, because he’d get a chance to fight and bend again, and not the measly bending a small rock into a different shape inside his hand either, but _really_ bend. Like take a huge hunk of earth out of the ground and fling it across the room. That was the stuff you live for, the stuff that really gets your blood pumping. There’s really nothing else like it out there, and they’d just taken it from him and from every other bender in the world. He was still running. Raava, the house had never felt so far away before. Why was it taking so long? He _was_ stronger than this.

 

“Nygus!” Black*Star yelled, not caring who was in earshot. He stumbled up the stairs, throwing his shoulder into the front door, successfully knocking it down and breaking the hinges. Sid would probably beat his ass later for it, but that was the least of his worries.

 

“Nygus! Fuck! Where are you?” he shouted again, hoping she’d answer, but heard a different voice, one he wasn’t expecting.

 

“What did you just yell? A man doesn’t-”

 

“I don’t care about language right now, Sid, just _help_ ,” he choked out, taking Maka off of his back and placing her on the kitchen table. She looked worse than she had when he’d peeled her off of the ground. Her whole face was purple, and she had a really nasty cut that started under her left eye and widened as it traveled across her face, eventually reaching her right ear. She had burn marks covering her arms, legs, and torso. He didn’t understand how she was so injured and all he had was a few bruises and scrapes. One moment she was next to him on the stage, face covered by a mask, and the next he’d been thrown across the room by a force and she was gone.

 

“Blake, go put her in the tub, and fill it. Now,” Sid told him, and so he did. He could only hope Nygus was in the area. He and Maka had been lucky enough to be placed with a guardian who had moved here from the Southern Water Tribe, because both of them would probably be dead if they hadn’t been. He quickly made his way to the bathroom and placed Maka in the tub and immediately turned on the water. She hissed in pain, which he didn’t like, but it was the first noise Black*Star heard her make since he’d grabbed her, and he was extremely grateful.

 

“Blake! What the hell happened?” Nygus shouted at him, pushing him out of the way and placing her hands above Maka. She immediately started bending the water in a circular motion over Maka’s body.

 

“We were jump-”

 

“Bullshit, I want answers, these injuries aren’t from being jumped or mugged or anything like that.”

 

He waited a moment, and watched as Nygus continued to move the water continuously over Maka. “We were at a rally,” he spoke softly, “and it was fine, it was _safe_ even, but then the police were there, and there were bombs, and it was just so, so bad.”

 

Nygus sighed and softly told him, “Go see Sid, and get him to patch you up. You don’t look amazing yourself.” And so he did.

 

* * *

 

 

When Maka awoke, she couldn’t feel anything but pain. Her legs, her arms, and _Raava,_ her head _._ She didn’t dare to open her eyes, because she knew if she did, she’d regret it. It’d just make the headache worse.

 

* * *

 

 

She awoke again, and this time, the pain less intense. Her arms and legs still burned, and her face felt like it’d been smashed into a wall. _“It probably was,”_ she thought to herself. Her headache, however, seemed to have subsided as she slept. She genuinely couldn’t remember the last time she’d been awake. Maka slowly opened her eyes, and found herself staring at a blank, foreign ceiling. She let out a pained grunt, and tried to get up.

 

“Shit! Maka, you’re awake! Don’t get up, just stay there. You’re like, super hurt. Like, you were dead for a few minutes there, hurt,” Black*Star told her, scooching over and sticking himself next to her. He placed his chin in his palm, looking all sad, like a puppy.

 

“Raava, how long was I asleep for?” Maka asked, turning to look him in the eyes. His face was nasty looking, but he didn’t seem to be in visible pain. Maka could only imagine what she looked like. Black*Star had what looked like a burn scar from right under his left ear to down past where his shirt stopped. There was wrapping on his forehead, and there were stitches along the right side of his jaw.

 

“Roughly a week,” he told her with a shrug, like it was nothing, “A lot’s happened since you were out. Like, a lot. You being asleep for the duration of it was probably for the best.”

 

“Well, what’s happened? I remember the rally, and then there was an explosion, and then there was just so much pain. Then you picked me up, _spirits_ , you were covered in blood, and that’s all I remember.” She spoke in a pained voice.

 

“Well, the rally happened, and I ran you back to the house, so Nygus could try and heal you. She spent hours laboring over you, like it was so long. Your heart stopped at one point. It was terrifying. Then early that morning, like the sun wasn’t even up, Sid got a letter dropped in the mail slot. It had info about how the police knew that we had lead the rally. Man, he almost killed me right then and there. If we ever see them again, he’ll probably kill me on the spot. ‘ _I told you not to get into serious trouble, Blake! And what do you do, why, you arrange a protest that could very well get you killed! Real men don’t do things that could put others they care about in serious harm’,_ ” Black*Star said in a mocking, but still loving, tone.

 

“The letter not only said that we’d led the rally about how Ba Sing Se is anti-bending now, but it said that the government had plans to execute us. Now, Sid and Nygus were super pissed at us, like they would’ve killed both us if somebody wasn’t coming to snatch us up at that moment. It said we had to leave immediately. Sid started yelling orders at me at that point. ‘ _Go tell Nygus we have to leave!’_ and _‘Pack only the essentials. And soap is an essential. Don’t forget soap’_ stuff like that.  Nygus hadn’t been done healing you at that point, so what she did is once we were ready to leave, she bent you a bubble. Like, a bubble that she was bending, while healing you. It was crazy, like I knew she was a powerful bender, but she wasn’t even breaking a sweat! It was amazing.”

 

“But anyways, she basically carried you through town and somehow, we managed to make it out from the house to the train station without being killed. Pretty miraculous, if you ask me. The only problem was actually getting onto the train, because at that point, there were wanted posters for us. Like everywhere. The train benders would know who we were, so it wasn't like we could hop on and hope for the best. That’d be kinda dumb. Sid basically sacrificed himself, left himself for dead. While Nygus boarded the train with your limp, water balloon body, Sid and I knocked those fucker train movers out. Not to be cocky or anything, but man, it was _sick_. But then Sid shoved me onto the train with you and Nygus, and bent the train away. That’s the only time I’ve ever seen him cry. He knew that he probably wouldn’t see any of us again.”

 

“Nygus at that point was starting to get tired. She’d been keeping you in that healing bubble for about an hour and a half. I’d never wished I was a waterbender before then, but I just wanted to be able to do something to help, instead of just sitting there.”

 

“We stayed on the train until we hit the end of the line, which was the entry and exit of Ba Sing Se, which I didn’t know at all. Crazy how the first and last time I got to ride the train was free, and I live in the outer ring. When we got off, Nygus was so tired, she looked like she was going to collapse at any moment, until some dude there bent you out of her hands. Out of instinct, I threw a huge boulder at him. It felt amazing, I hadn’t done that in months! It was so freeing, until I found out that he was just trying to help. Then I just felt guilty, because you were in a puddle on the ground and Nygus had collapsed due to exhaustion. The dude however was just like, standing? He was fine! And he just picked you back up, and started healing you, which was shocking because there’s like four healers around now since they’re so rare. I was so confused, like, I threw a ginormous rock at him, and he was fine?”

 

“While he was healing you, he started talking to me and was like, ‘ _My name is Soul. I know who you both are,’_ and my first instinct was that he was working for The Queen and was gonna drag our asses into prison, but then he said, ‘ _I’m here to recruit the two of you. I run an organization and we’re trying to fix what’s going on here in Ba Sing Se.’_ I was shocked to say the least, but man I was down for that shit, it is so cool.”

 

“So we went with him, but not before helping Nygus back onto the train and sending her away. I really hope Sid and her got back together, and that they’re both okay. Afterward, Soul started explaining what exactly his organization did, and how they were trying to accomplish stuff. He said he’d heard about what was going on in Ba Sing Se while visiting Omashu, and wanted to do something about it. Somethin about his _‘moral duty’_ and stuff. He also told me that while he was in Ba Sing Se, he’d heard about our ‘little’ rally and found out who was running it by tracking it back to us. Pretty impressive, if I do say so myself. He didn’t go however, because he didn’t know if shit was gonna go down, and he _‘can’t die just yet_ ’. Shit did go down, he didn’t die, and he was the dude who left the letter for Sid. Soul’s obviously a sneaky guy, really light on his feet, which is surprising, because waterbenders may be graceful, but they are not light on their feet. They are loud and stomp around. Maybe he’s just some exception.”

 

“Soul then told me about the other people he has in his organization. There’s an airbender who joined the organization solely to save her girlfriend who was kidnapped by The Queen. Her name’s Jacqueline. He’s got another airbender, who’s got her mastery tattoos, and her name is Tsubaki. Apparently she’s a little older than the rest of the people he has on the team, but it doesn’t matter much. He’s got them, plus he’s recruited the prince of the northern water tribe, who I have yet to meet. Apparently he’s off on a recruitment mission in Republic City, trying to track down a waterbender and a firebender. They’re siblings apparently, and run a gang, so it’ll be a little rough on him, but we need more waterbenders apparently, and at least one firebender, and we don’t have any, so we kinda really need that one sister.”

 

“We were the last people he really wanted to recruit, since he needed earthbenders, but didn’t find anybody intense enough in Omashu. He figured somebody from the inside of Ba Sing Se would be useful also, because we’ll know our way around, and all the little secrets and alleyways for when they attack. I don’t know how Soul’s planning to attack though, and frankly, I don’t think he knows. I know the Outer Ring like the back of my hand, but the Middle and Inner are just as much a mystery to me as they are to him. Maybe he knows his way around the Inner Ring, although he’s a waterbender, so it wouldn’t make much sense,”

 

“But Nygus lives in the Outer Ring, and is a waterbender,” Maka interrupted.

 

“Yeah, but she was traveling through when she met Sid and decided that she was going to stay here to live with him. Soul doesn’t seem to have any family. He seems like a lone wolf kinda dude.”

 

“Maybe he’s like us,” she interrupted again.

 

“That could be something, but I find that hard to believe. I’ve seen how all the older gangs in Ba Sing Se looked, mostly because there were only two of them. One being the one my parents were from, and the other being the one that your parents were a part of for a while. He doesn’t have any of the features, in fact, he looks more like a firebender than a waterbender. He doesn’t have blue eyes, his are red.”

 

“Eye color isn’t the only factor in what type of bender you are, you should know that. Maybe one of his parents was a waterbender and one was a firebender. That isn’t out of the question. I bet that’s what happened with those sisters,”

 

“Or maybe he’s the Avatar!” Black*Star said sarcastically, “Buff, beautiful, and has _dreamy_ red eyes! My hero!”

 

“Shut up.”

 

“You already have the hots for him and you haven’t even _seen_ him.”

 

“I do not! Raava,‘Star, I’d assume you had the hots for Soul, hearing how highly you talk of him.”

 

“Soul and Maka sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S--”

 

“Are you nine!”

 

“No, I’m almost seventeen!”

 

“Doesn’t sound like it to me.”

  
“That’s not fair! You say dumb stuff like that all the time!”

 

“I do not!”

 

“Ye--”

 

“Just get on with your story, alright,” Maka said with a huff. Black*Star smirked, knowing he had won their little fight.

 

“Alrighty then, so Soul got us, and brought us here to this dank cave, and apparently it’s his headquarters.”

 

“Well, how come you couldn’t have just finished the story before you started fighting with me?” Maka asked him with a glare.

 

“ _Well how come you couldn’t have just finished the story,_ oh, I don’t know, because you started questioning me!”

 

“In my defense, you were feeding me false fact--”

 

“False facts my ass, you just like being right all the ti--”

 

“Could you two quiet down, people are trying to sleep!” a foreign voice spoke. “It is roughly three in the morning. Congratulations on your little reunion, but I have not gotten a full night of sleep in a week and a half, and I would prefer it if I could get one tonight.” Maka and Black*Star both turned to see a scrawny boy who was roughly six feet tall and had black hair with some white streaks in it.

 

“Sorry,” Black*Star stuttered, looking down at the ground.

 

Maka snickered and whispered to him, “You were right, you don’t have the hots for Soul, you’ve got the hots for this kid.”

 

“I am to make the assumption that you two are the new earthbending recruits Soul went to get?” he asked. “I’m Iluak, but you can call me Kid.”

 

“So, you’re the waterbender prince, from the northern water tribe?” Maka questioned him.

 

“Yes, that would be me. You received that information from Soul?”

 

“Well, my brother received it from him. I was out cold at that point. Pardon my appearance, your majesty, I probably look like a swollen mess right now.” She would’ve bowed, if she wasn’t bedridden.

 

“I shall pardon your appearance, but only if you vow to never call me ‘your majesty’ again. Like I said before, just call me Kid. If I could trouble you for your names, it would be great.”

 

“Alright then, sounds good. I’m Maka, and the kid with blue hair who’s staring at the floor is my brother, Black*Star.” He elbowed her in the knee when she said that.

 

“Black*Star, interesting name. Neither of you seem to have typical earthbender names though, why is that?”

 

“His actual name is Blake, that’s what’s on his birth certificate. Black*Star is what he goes by though. As for me, I don’t know much about my parents, except that my mama was a really amazing earthbender and that my papa was a non-bender with firebender parents. I’m assuming my papa picked my name.”

 

“Fair enough. Well, I’ll be going to sleep now. See you in a couple of hours.”

 

“Wait! Did you find the girls you went to recruit?” Maka asked him with a smile, trying to seem friendly, when she was really just snooping.

 

“I managed to track them down. They seem to be living in the garment district of Republic City. It’s not the nicest area, but it isn’t as crime ridden as I thought it would be.”

 

“And what made you think that?”

 

“I had made the assumption that since they were gang members, that they’d be living in a more crime infested area; apparently not though. I did forget that they weren’t just gang members, but rather, they’re the heads of a gang that runs Republic City. The police there are having a harder time managing the crime scene than the police in Ba Sing Se.”

 

“The police in Republic City want them caught for a different reason, because they want the city to have less crime. The police in Ba Sing Se don’t want benders, and since most of them live in the Outer Ring, they do whatever they want. The Queen doesn’t care what happens to those living in poverty. She only cares about her money. The Outer Ring had higher taxes than both the Middle and Inner Ring, because the Queen wanted to eradicate the poor because we don’t ‘look good’,” Black*Star finally spoke up.

 

“Do you have any more information on the girls?” Maka asked, sending a sharp glare toward Black*Star.

 

“I know that they are not twins, and that though they lead the biggest gang in the area, they are not a part of the human trafficking or the drug problem in Republic City. I also know that they are known as the twin pistols. Not because they have guns, but because they might as well; they have some bending techniques that could kill a man easily with one hit.”

 

“I could kill a man with one hit by throwing a giant rock at him,” Black*Star said, with a tinge of cockiness in his voice.

 

“That is not a technique, that is simply blunt force trauma,” Kid said, obviously unimpressed with Black*Star’s comeback. “The younger sister is the firebender, and has mastered the use of lightning. They will either electrocute people who get in their way or are seen as a threat, or the older sister, the waterbender, will dehydrate the person to the point of death. She bends all of the water out of their bloodstream. It is not _true_ bloodbending, but it is close enough that it is very intimidating.”

 

“Holy shit,” Black*Star said to himself.

 

“Holy shit is right.”

 

“Why did Soul send you after them, then, of all people? They’re undeniably dangerous, why didn’t he just recruit some normal people who won’t suck all the water out of your body?” Maka asked him.

 

“Soul is obviously looking for the best of the best. He’s an extremely skilled waterbender, and I’m assuming he is from the southern tribe or Republic City, since he is not from the Northern tribe. I am the prince of the Northern water tribe, so I was trained to be at a much higher level of bending than my peers were. Tsubaki got her airbending tattoos at age fourteen, which, although is not the youngest an airbender has received their tattoos, is still very young. Soul also says she has some skills that others are too faint of heart to master, but she learned it from her estranged brother through force. Jacqueline may not have her tattoos, but she does have the ability to fly, which is very rare, and there has only been one other airbender recorded in history who mastered the ability to fly.”

 

“And then there is you two. Both of you must be extremely skilled, seeing as Soul did recruit you. I heard him speak highly of you, and how you both have the ability to not only earthbend phenomenally, but also to metalbend. Soul does his research about his recruits, and you two fit the criteria very well. How he gets his information, I do not know, but I do know that it is good info,” Kid told them with a nod.

 

“But how does he manage to get all these people to just up and leave their families?”

 

“If you have not already noticed, Jacqueline has an ulterior motive; also, she and Tsubaki are airbenders, who go around trying to fix problems. Key word trying. They leave and things go back to being a wreck two weeks later. You and Black*Star would, most likely, be dead right now if it was not for Soul recruiting you when he did, and Patty and Liz are gang leaders,who have no families to leave behind, and if they do, I am sure he has people lined up if they do not work out.”

 

“What about the fact that he’ll only have one firebender on the team, that doesn’t seem to be very wise. That Patty girl sounds like a force to be reckoned with, but we’ll need more firebenders. The group seems to be more defensive based, and although earthbenders work both offensively and defensively, it’s different. Firebenders are almost solely offensive, and we’re going to need more of that,” Black*Star told him, almost smugly.

 

“He has another firebender lined up, and that is where you and Maka come in, or just Maka really. He is recruiting a firebender who is roughly your age, and has some technique that they were named after. The Demon Sword. Soul has not told me much about them, since apparently the kid is extremely elusive and a risk to society, but I could be wrong. I am not going on that mission, so I do not have the information. Soul and you, Maka, will be going on that mission in a week or two, along with Tsubaki. Black*Star, you and I will be going to Republic City to actually _get_ Liz and Patty. Jacqueline will be coming along with us as well. Both Jacqueline and Tsubaki go on the missions to scout places out, since they can not fight very well offensively, but we usually do not have to resort to violence. Jacqueline and Tsubaki are both very articulate and are superb at calmly speaking to people. I am to assume Soul has Tsubaki coming with you and him to get The Demon Sword because she has a particularly soothing voice.”

 

“Are you saying that you aren’t articulate?” Black*Star questioned, “because if so, you’re super wrong. I could probably use you as a tyrannosaurus.”

 

“You mean a thesaurus?” Kid asked him.

  
“Yeah. I could use you as a thesaurus.”

 

“Alas, I am articulate, but I am also fairly intimidating without meaning to be. I don’t come off as calm, or soothing. I give off a rather pushy vibe.”

 

“Well, seeing as you just used the word ‘ _alas,’_ you also give off the pretentious vibe.”

 

“This has really been a great conversation and all, but seeing as I’ve been asleep for a week, I haven’t really eaten in a week, so I’m starving,” Maka spoke. “Is there any food in here, or am I left to fend for myself?”

 

“There is a kitchen here. Proceed down the cave going straight, and then there will be two tunnels. Take the left one, and then take another left. Essentially, just keep left and you should not get lost. If you keep right, you will merely end up in the bathrooms, and there is nothing to eat there,” Kid told her, nodding.

 

Maka stood up, groaned, and her knees half gave out.

  
“Dude, what did I tell you? Don’t get up,” Black*Star said to her incredulously.

 

“I’m starving. I am actually starving. If I don’t eat, I will die,” she told him, her hands on her knees, steadying her balance.

 

“Then I’ll get you food,” Black*Star said.

 

“No you won’t.”

 

“Yeah, you’re right, I definitely won’t,” Black*Star laughed to himself. Maka took her hands off of her knees, and wobbled over to the wall of the cave, and then walked along the side of it. The cave wall felt cold, and she’d learned that rocks will pull the body heat out of you, so if she was ever cold, she tended to not sit on them. But this felt nice. It felt natural. She took a left, and then another left, and found herself in the kitchen, or really just a place that Soul and Kid had turned into an enormous freezer. There was food, but it wasn’t anything fancy. A couple pieces of fruit, a couple slabs of mystery meat (that wasn’t cooked, she might add), and a bunch of containers filled with purified water.

 

“So, she’s finally awake,” a deep, almost gravelly voice spoke. Maka jumped out of her skin, goosebumps covering her body.

 

“Jeez, you scared me,” Maka told him. “Is there anything else here that’s edible, aside from the obscure meat slabs?”

 

“I think there’s some cabbages, maybe some oats and berries, and there’s probably some fish in here somewhere. That’s basically all the necessities you’d need, right?” he replied, his hand rubbing the back of his neck. Maka observed him, taking in his posture, which was really bad. He stood hunched over a little bit, but also leaning back. It all contradicted itself. She also noticed how he had dark bags under his eyes, which were brown, but when the light reflected off of them, they appeared red. How he was a waterbender, Maka didn’t know. Soul looked like a firebender, through and through. The only off thing about him was his hair. It was a bright white. She’d guess that he had a pigmentation disorder, but that was out of the equation because he had darker skin. Maybe he was just one of those miracle children.

 

“Would you mind just showing me where the oats and berries are?” she asked him.

 

Soul nodded. “The berries are dried, I hope that doesn’t matter. And sorry for not introducing myself earlier. I’m Soul, the dude who organized the whole alliance thing.”

 

“I’m Maka, but you already know that I’m sure.”

“Yeah, but we’ve never formally met,” Soul said, leading her over to a hidden corner.

 

“Well, consider this that,” she told him. Maka watched as Soul bent a block of ice, one very much like a drawer, out of the wall and showed her what was in the drawer. She expected the oats and berries to be in some sort of container, but they were just sitting there. She shrugged and grabbed some out of the drawer. Maka went to shove some in her pockets, only to not find them there.

 

“Where are my--whose clothes are these?” Maka asked him. She realized that after being through what she had at the rally, her clothes were probably ruined and plastered in blood.

 

“Um, I actually have no clue. Your pants are probably Kid or Jacqueline’s and your shirt,” Soul squinted at it, “is mine. Uh, sorry about that. I guess Kid didn’t have any extras.”

  

“Thanks--for the food, and the shirt I guess. Yeah. Thank you.” Maka tripped over her words and her feet as she hobbled backwards a little bit, trying to make her way out of the room.

 

“You’re welcome. It was nice, uh meeting you, for real this time,” Soul said, nodding at her.poke

 

“Yeah, uh, you too” Maka responded, and she hobbled off, back toward the part of the cave she’d woke up in.

 

* * *

 

“Maka. Makaaaaaaaa,” Black*Star whispered into her ear, trying to wake her up. Maka grunted and rolled over onto her stomach, flinching when she applied pressure to her shoulder.

 

“Yeah, sorry about that. While you were out Soul rammed your arm back into its socket. You’ll probably be in pain for a good while, seeing as he did it wrong the first time and we had to dislocate it again,” Black*Star told her, and Maka groaned again. She hated being injured. It hindered her from actually getting things done and from helping the team out. She’d only woken up a little over sixteen hours ago, and all she wanted was to be back to normal.

 

“If he didn’t know what he was doing, why’d you let him?” Maka asked Black*Star, scrunching her eyes up and running one of her hands over her face.

 

“The only other options were me and Kid, since Jackie and Tsubaki didn’t want to hurt you. The airbenders are such pacifiers---”

 

“Pacifists?”

 

“Yeah, that. They’re such pacifists, they won’t even hurt somebody for the better. I mean, I’m sure there’s airbenders who’d do it, but Jackie and Tsu, man, they won’t even kill a mosquito. But there’s no way I’d do it, because I’d probably rip your arm off. Not to brag, but I’m really strong. Kid wouldn’t do it either, because he insisted it was uncivilized and that we should wait for it to shift back itself. Obviously, he hasn’t been taught the difference between a break and a dislocation. But yeah, Soul was the only option.” Maka sighed and pushed herself up off the ground.

 

“Do we have a plan for what we’re doing today?” she questioned, straightening out her clothes. She hated to admit it, but Soul’s shirt was relatively comfy. She’d probably wear it as an actual outfit if the shoulders hadn’t been double the size of her own.

 

“Soul and Kid are briefing us on the missions we’ll be going on in a few days. Hopefully you’ll be a little better by then. I’m assuming that Soul has healing sessions set up for you, that way you won’t be so injured and your bending will hopefully be back to normal.” Maka huffed at the fact that Black*Star was right; she probably _would_ have healing sessions with Soul, and that was not something she was looking forward to.

 

“Dude, why’d you sigh? You can’t _already_ dislike Soul, that’s like, a record.”

 

“I don’t not like him, he’s just, obnoxious, you know?”

 

“Nope.”

 

“He doesn’t know how to listen and he has no boundaries.”

 

“To be fair, neither do you.”

 

“That’s not true, and you know it,” Maka retorted, pursing her lips.

 

“I don’t even think that you dislike him. I think you have the hots for him,”

 

“That, is ridiculous! I could _never_ li--”

 

“Shit, I’m right! Oh my spirits, you _like_ someone.” Black*Star waggled his eyebrows at her.

 

“I do not!” Maka shouted at him, clenching her fists.

 

“Maka and Soulie sitting in a tr--”

 

“Soulie?”

 

“It had more syllables and it fit better, alright. But that’s not the point, the point is you like a boy and I can hold it over your head!”

 

“You’re like 6’3, you can hold anything over my head!”

 

“Metaphorically, Maka, spirits, I thought you’d catch my drift, being a person who reads and all.”

 

Maka huffed, and pursed her lips again, and then, she used her favorite technique. She looked up at Black*Star with big, sad puppy eyes and made a face that looked like she was going to cry.

 

“Oh, oh no. Don’t do that. You _can’t_ do that, it’s not fair Maka. And besides, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to jump his bones. He isn’t bad looking, okay?” Black*Star groaned. Maka widened her eyes and tilted her eyebrows downward more.

 

Black*star groaned and covered his eyes, walking in a small circle, “Ok! Fine! I’ll stop talking about it, just stop looking at me like that!”

 

Maka wiped the puppy eyes off of her face and replaced it with a smirk.

 

“You’re an asshole, you know that, right?” Black*Star asked her, sending a glare her way, but not seriously.

 

“Yup!” Maka chirped and walked off with a little more bounce in her step than the last time she was up. Black*Star followed and observed that she was limping; he assumed it was from the large gash above her ankle that had been caused by a piece of scrap metal. Man, that had been grody. When he saw it, he thought they’d just have to give her the chop. It hadn’t come to that though, and he was glad.

 

“Hey, Maka, where exactly are we going?” he asked her.

 

“Exploring. We’ve gotta do something before the meeting starts. Might as well make it count, right?” she told him, making her way toward the left side of the wall to lean on it. “I bet if we walk along this, we’ll find the exit of the cave, but on the other side.”

 

“Maybe, but we don’t have much time in between now and the meeting. I really don’t--”

 

“You just wanna kiss up so you can get with the water tribe prince. I’ll admit it, he’s hot, but is he hot enough for you to just abandon your reckless lifestyle and become his damsel in distress?” Maka taunted, stopping and turning around to face him.

 

“Excuse me? I don’t think so. I’m shocked that you would even think that. I am no damsel, and I am definitely not in distress. I’m like, the dragon. The cool one, who’s the villain who isn’t really a villain, just misunderstood, alright? I’m a misunderstood dragon.”

 

“And you say I’m the one who reads dumb stories.”

 

“I didn’t read that. I saw it in a picture book, get your facts straight. If I was going to read a book, it wouldn’t be a dumb story about a prince saving the to-be princess from an evil dragon, but the dragon isn’t evil, he’s just misunderstood. The real villain is the evil father, who decided the dragon was too dangerous to have arou---” Maka cocked an eyebrow at his story fantasy. “Shut up. It’s a good story, but I’m not the damsel type, alright. I’m buff. I couldn’t even _be_ a damsel if I wanted to.”

 

“What’s this about you being a damsel?” Soul said, as he walked toward them. Maka jumped with a squeak of surprise.

 

“Soul!” Black*Star shouted at him.

 

“‘Star!” Soul shouted back. They then proceeded to do some weird complicated handshake that included high fiving with each other, but with their feet, and punching the other in the gut at the end.

 

“Is this what commoner culture is like?” Kid asked Maka, appearing at her side.

 

“No.”

 

“Aw, man, it’s so good to see you, it’s been forever,” Black*Star said to Soul, wrapping his arm around Soul’s shoulders and shaking him. Soul did the same thing and shook Black*Star back.  
  
“It really has been. We gotta talk more.”

 

“It hasn’t even been a day,” Maka said to the both of them and they tsked at her.

 

“Too long Maka, too long,” Black*Star told her. Maka and Kid shared a look of amazement. Soul and Black*Star were truly something else.

 

“It has been too long Black*Star, but we have other matters to discuss. Tsubaki and Jackie are both already in the room where you were kind enough to bend us a table and chairs, as well as bending us the actual room. We’ve gotta go over the itinerary for both of our missions. My group is leaving in three days, and Kid’s is leaving in two. We’re only leaving later because I have to make sure Maka’s body won’t give out on her if we end up having to fight.” Maka huffed; she wanted to say something, but she bit her tongue, deciding that fighting with Soul right now would just be a poor decision on her part.

 

“Not to interrupt you, but perhaps before you start explaining our plans, we should move to the conference room? That way both Tsubaki and Jackie are able to participate as well,” Kid suggested. Soul nodded to him, and Black*Star sent finger guns at Kid as to acknowledge his great idea.

 

“Not cool, ‘Star. Not cool,” Soul told him, and he started off toward the conference room. Maka, Kid, and Black*Star followed him. They all walked quietly as a group through a couple of tunnels, and by quietly, it meant that Kid, Maka, and Soul were silent while Black*Star was humming some song off key and half-walking, half-dancing to it. When they arrived to the conference room roughly fifteen minutes later, Tsubaki was teaching Jackie how to prolong an airscooter for a really long time.

 

“The key is good balance and evenly distributing your air usage,” Tsubaki spoke, then demonstrated the technique. Maka watched as Tsubaki proceeded to move her hands in soft, circular motions and air generated under her as she crossed her legs and moved herself around the room on the scooter. Maka had never seen a real airbender before. They never came to Ba Sing Se. It was mostly earth and non-benders there, with the occasional fire or waterbender. It was in the Earth Kingdom though and not a colony, so realistically, she shouldn’t have expected to see any other benders around. She was used to waterbending, having grown up with Nygus around. The only firebender she’d known was Kim, who was actually kind of scary, so she tended to stay away from her. Now though, she didn’t know what had happened to Kim, or where she was. Maka knew Kim hated the anti-bending law, so she assumed that Kim probably would’ve gone to the rally. Kim was likely dead or had been captured by law enforcement and was going to be sent for military training.

 

“That’s sick!” Black*Star shouted, almost jumping up and down. Tsubaki lost her focus and her airscooter faded away, and she hopped off.

 

“Thank you,” she responded kindly, and then turned to Maka. “I haven’t been able to introduce myself since you’ve been asleep for so long. I’m Tsubaki, and the other girl is Jackie,” she smiled.

 

“I”m Maka, and what you were doing was really, really cool. Sorry for Black*Star’’s enthusiasm, but neither of us have seen an airbender before, so it’s a bit surreal.”

 

“Are you serious?” Jackie butted in. “You’re lying right? That’s gotta be fake.”

 

“Actually, I’m not. We live in the Outer Ring of Ba Sing Se, which isn’t exactly the tourist capital of the Earth Kingdom territories, so it was mostly earthbenders and your occasional water or firebender. When airbenders visit, they tend to stay in places in the Middle and Inner Ring. I don’t blame them though, the Outer Ring isn’t that pretty,” Maka told Jackie, smiling softly, a little bit of pain in her voice, knowing she wouldn’t be returning to the place she called home. It wasn’t pretty, and it was corrupt, but back when she was a little kid, it had been amazing. She, Black*Star, and Killik would roam the streets before and after school, making their way through all the intertwining streets. They all hadn’t really had morals at age seven, so they’d do things like steal clothes off of people’s laundry lines and would see who could put together the best outfit (Killik always won. He’d put undergarments on his head, which gave him a win by default. Occasionally they’d get caught, and the person who’d owned the clothes would drag them all back to Nygus and Sid’s place, where Nygus would tell them to not do it again and then let them leave. They then did it again.

 

There was also the really nice shop lady, Azusa, who was just a little bit mean when they caused mischief, like unscrewing the wheels on the produce carts and watching them fall apart when they went to close for the night. She’d always give them speeches after that happened, go off on tangents that they never bothered to listen to. Afterward she’d let them have the bubbly water that was probably more expensive than them, that nobody could get their hands on if they weren’t wealthy. They’d all share a can of the stuff. Maka always got the first sip, then one more, she’d then hand it over to Killik, who got two sips, and then Black*Star would kill it. Maka vaguely remembered that Azusa was a bender, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Her name screamed firebender though, so that’s what Maka was going with. She hadn’t seen Azusa for years. Before the law was passed, there had been raids. The Queen’s men would show up without warning and take whatever they needed or wanted (mostly wanted). They’d go around and terrorize all of the local shops.

 

The men would take produce, money, clothing, furniture. It didn’t matter if the shop owners were selling it. If they could see it in the shop, they’d take to it. Azusa had refused. She had told them that they couldn’t have her property, and they’d taken her.

 

“Yo, Maka, you gonna sit down?” Black*Star spoke up, sending her a look as to say, _‘Dude, why are you so spacey?’_

 

 _“_ Oh, yeah,” she replied, and made her way to one of the rocks that had been bent to the shape of a chair.

 

“Alright, so now that we’re all in one condensed area, I’d like to give a debrief on what’s going to happen over the next couple of days. So as you all know, we’ll be leaving for separate recruiting missions in a few days. Kid, as you know, you, Black*Star, and Jackie will be going into Republic City to recruit Liz and Patti, who Kid successfully tracked earlier this week. I suspect that they won’t put up a fight if you approach them correctly, but they’ll probably kill you if you’re really aggressive, so try and tone it down. I don’t know where I’ll find another water prince, metalbender, or person who can fly. So keep your asses safe, alright?”

 

“Sounds good.” Kid nodded, allowing Soul to continue with his lecture.

 

“Meanwhile, Maka and I are going to recruit The Demon Sword, a notorious firebender who’s known for killing most people they come into contact with. Apparently they also bend black fire, which I find hard to believe, so I’ll have to see it for myself. Tsubaki, you are coming with us, but you aren’t coming to recruit The Demon Sword, but rather their acquaintance. The guy’s named Ragnarok, and I have no clue whether or not he’s a bender, but if he is, I’d expect him to be an earthbender, judging by name. Even if he isn’t a bender, I know he’s an extremely skilled swordsman and knows what he’s doing when he gets into a fight. The Demon Sword and him have some kind of connection which I’m not sure about.”

 

“I usually have more information on who I recruit, but this kid is elusive and illustrious in the world of crime, so I figured I could take a gamble on this,” Soul finished.

 

“What happens if your gamble is wrong and you just end up finding some kid who’s been spreading some bullshit rumor?” Black*Star asked, throwing his hands behind his head and slumping down in his seat. He was sucking on a couple little rocks, a habit Maka knew he’d picked up from Sid. He said it was a great way to quench your thirst, but Nygus said it was a great way to choke, after administering the Heimlich to Black*Star five too many times.

 

“Then we go to one of the back ups I have. I’m not stupid, but The Demon Sword more powerful by ten fold out of all the other firebenders I’ve got lined up. It’s our best shot, and if we get them on our team, I can guarantee we’ll be almost unstoppable,” Soul responded, ending his little speech with a smirk.

 

“How are we fighting this kid?” Tsubaki questioned, “They’re obviously strong, and there’s only two of you going to fight the Sword, how do you expect to live? Maka’s not healed yet, and probably won’t be at one hundred percent by the time we leave, plus there’s the fact that we don’t know how powerful this Ragnarok guy is. What if I’m not strong enough to take him on alone?”

 

“We have the upper hand, bending wise. I’m a waterbender, which means I can extinguish the fire pretty easily, and once I have them cornered, Maka goes in and knocks them out. You can probably wear Ragnarok out with your airbending. Just, quite literally, knock the air out of him, or have him chase you around on your scooter until he can’t run any longer.  This is all hypothetical. If we aren’t in danger, and they agree, then we’re all good. If we end up in a position to fight, then so be it, and we’ll fight to the death if we have to.”

 

“Wait, so we’re killing people now? I thought we were doing this to help people. I don’t want something like murder on my shoulders. I’m closer to age ten than I am twenty. I’m basically an infant. I am fresh out of the womb, I can’t be a murderer,” Black*Star interrupted, leaning over the table and spitting out the pebbles, one hitting Soul on the nose. Soul winced and wiped the spit off of his face.

 

“We aren’t killing anybody if we don’t need to.”

 

“But you’re saying there’s the possibility of me having to kill somebody,”

 

“I’m not going to lie and say no, but I’m not going to outright say yes. There’s a slim chance, and frankly, if there’s ever a situation where we have to take somebody’s death into our own hands--which I highly doubt there will be--then I’ll do it.”

 

“You are aware that you just casually announced you were down to kill somebody, or did I hear you wrong?” Black*Star asked, dragging his finger through the table in swirling motions.

 

“Yeah, that _is_ a bit harsh,” Kid spoke after having been silent for a while.

 

“If we can spare them, then we’ll spare them, but--”

 

“Even then, I don’t know if I’m comfortable with being in a group of murderers,”

 

“Ditto, I don’t--”

 

“Fine! We’re not killing anybody, can we get back on topic?” Soul sighed, running a hand over his face and let out a long, heaved sigh.

 

“What’s left to discuss? We’ve covered Liz and Patti, The Demon Sword, and murder,” Maka said, a slight smirk on her face.

 

“I was going to discuss means of transportation as well as how long things would last, but I suppose I don’t need to, since Maka seems to be all-knowing,” Soul snarked at her. Maka pursed her lips and sent a glare in his direction.

 

“That’s what I thought,” he smirked, getting back to his speech. “Kid, your group is going undercover and I’m expecting you to find reliable transportation that isn’t Jackie’s back; that’ll get you to the ferry into Republic City, and then from there you’ll be travelling on foot. You all should have money that should be enough for three days of food and places to sleep the night you’re there. Please, don’t spend money on useless things. You won’t have enough for necessities and you’ll be miserable.

 

“As for my group, we’ll be travelling by foot for most of the trip. It’ll be a day’s walk if we keep a quick, steady pace. The Demon Sword hangs around at a temple in the middle of the city. Fighting in broad daylight is risky, but in disguise we should be okay. Are we finished?” he asked. Soul was obviously tired of chatting at this point.

 

“One more thing,” Maka said. Soul inwardly groaned.

 

“Yes?”

 

“Where are we?”

 

Soul outwardly groaned. “We’re in a cave roughly two hundred miles from Ba Sing Se. _Now_ we’re done.”

 

Maka squeaked at how far away she was. “Okay.”

 

“Meeting dismissed. You can all go on your way,” Soul spoke, then immediately stood up and quickly shuffled his way out of the room.

 

“Well, he’s snippy today, now isn’t he,” Jackie remarked, toying with the neck of her flight suit and fidgeting with its zipper.

 

“He gets like this every time we get ready for missions. I suspect he’s stressed. Probably hungry, now that I think about it,” Kid told her. He pulled at his sleeves and proceeded to smooth them out, flattening the wrinkles away. Maka admired how Kid wore something so formal all the time, although she supposed it was normal for him, since he was royalty. She yearned to own a skirt, or even a dress. Those things weren’t available to the residents of the Outer Ring, and for most of the time, it wasn’t available to those in the Middle Ring either. The Inner Ring was where all the nice clothes were, even though the garment district was in the Outer Ring.

 

“He’ll be fine by later. We just have to leave him alone,” Tsubaki told them.

 

“So, Kid,” Black*Star said, walking up to him, “What’s it like on a mission?”

 

“I am not the most experienced one here with missions, so I suggest you ask Jackie. She has been working with Soul’s group for months now.” Black*Star shrugged and looked toward Jackie.

 

“It’s different than doing airbender missions. It’s less social, less pacifistic, and less legal. We break a lot of laws doing this, so we have to watch out for law enforcement officials when we’re in cities and towns. Villages are a bit easier, because the law enforcement isn’t very intimidating and usually can’t bend. When the law enforcement has bending abilities, it makes it a little harder, but not so hard that we have serious injuries, it’s just more dodging, ducking, and sometimes rolling involved. The biggest problem is running down streets and then once we lose them, we’re lost. That’s happened way too many times”

 

* * *

 

 

“So this is it, huh?” Black*Star said, wrapping his arm around Maka’s shoulders and pulling her close. She flinched slightly at the feel of another person’s skin touching her half-healed burn.  He sniffled, “You’re not gonna have a second protector with you this time. I won’t be there as your right hand man, and you won’t be there as mine.”

 

“You do realize I’m strong enough to protect myself, and that if you weren’t sheer muscle, we’d be fair game for a fight,” Maka told him, craning her neck to look him in the eyes.

 

“ _That_ is why I said second protector. You aren’t gonna have a big guy like me by your side anymore. I’m gonna miss you as my right-hand man,”

 

“I’ll miss you too,” Maka said, scooching herself a little closer to him. “But you do realize that you aren’t going to be gone forever, I’ll be at your right hand again soon. Besides, we should only be apart for maybe a week. It’s not that big of a deal.”

 

“I know that, obviously,” Black*Star said, puffing himself up as to make him seem bigger. “A powerful person such as I would never doubt something like that.”

 

Maka half-scoffed. “Alright then,” she said jokingly, “Then I guess you wouldn’t care if I perished and never came back, my corpse-”

 

“I hauled your bony ass four miles home; if I didn’t care you’d’ve perished by now, I can promise you that,”

 

“Black*Star!” Kid yelled from the exit of the cave.

 

“Well, that’s my cue,” Black*Star spoke, squeezing Maka the tiniest bit tighter, and then letting go. Before he could run off, Maka wrapped her arms around his torso and hugged him tight.

 

“I’m gonna miss you,” she mumbled into him, and he just stood there, basking. He patted her shoulder once or twice.

 

“I’m gonna miss you too Maks, but I have to go now, or Kid’ll beat my ass,” Black*Star told her, and she let go.

 

They smiled at each other, and Maka watched as he jogged off toward Kid and Jackie, and she could only hope they’d all be okay.  

 

* * *

 

 

Maka and Soul sat in a makeshift bathroom, Maka clothed and in the tepid bath water as Soul proceeded to run the water over her injuries in circular motions. Chills ran down Maka’s spine every time the water went over her left shoulder blade, which had a nasty burn that wasn’t healing properly. It was stubborn and wouldn’t leave.

 

‘ _Sort of like Black*Star,_ ’ Maka thought to herself, and chuckled.

 

“What’re you laughing at?” Soul questioned, popping his head up.

 

“Oh, nothing, just a little thought I had,” Maka replied, wincing as Soul moved water over the large scab she had on her leg.

 

“This causing you problems?” Soul asked, stopping his healing process and placing his hands on her leg, then picking it up.

 

“I guess?”

 

“Does it hurt still?”

“Yeah.”

 

“So this sucker is what’s causing you to still have that godawful limp?”

 

“I don’t have a limp,” Maka protested, throwing her arms over her chest and shrugging.

 

“You aren’t very good at hiding it. If it doesn’t start healing faster, I’m worried that you’ll either be stuck with a permanent limp or you won’t be able to fight well,” Soul told her, placing her leg back down and picking the water up again. He didn’t continue with circular motions, but instead proceeded to bend it into a cast like shape. He froze the outside to a solid ice, while still letting a warmer water circulate through it.

 

“I’m gonna leave that there for a little while and see if it does anything for you,” he told her, and then went back to healing the burns on her upper body.

 

“How are things going?” Tsubaki asked, walking into the room. With only the three of them there, it was a bit lonely. There wasn’t Black*Star walking around and shouting nonsense, or Kid drawling on about topics that none of them were particularly interested in, but would listen to anyway, because it was decent information. Jackie wasn’t there either and things got real bland real quick without her snarky little comments on everything you did.

 

“Good enough,” Soul spoke and Maka huffed. She wasn’t in a very good mood. Her leg felt like it had a bag of bricks attached to it and she wasn’t much of a pessimist, but for now, a limp it was.

 

“Are your injuries healing well, Maka?”

 

“They could be healing better, and I wish that they were, but I’m not going to complain too much. I’m not dead, and I could be right now, so I’m grateful for that,” Maka replied, slouching into the water so everything but her neck up was submerged. She shivered again.

 

“Could you maybe not? I need to get at your shoulder blade again, and I can’t when you do stuff like that,” Soul told her with an annoyed look on his face, dropping the water he’d been manipulating and splashing her. Maka snorted; the water had gone up her nose. She lifted her wet hands to wipe off her face and sighed.

 

“Fine. You could’ve politely asked or something,” she grumbled, pushing herself back up. Her wet hair felt nice against her back. It resembled a brownish color since it was wet and ended a little bit above her shoulder blades, dusting just above her burn.

 

“You should’ve known better.”

 

“I’m sorry, but you weren’t doing anything, so I figured you were done.”

 

“Yeah, well, I wasn’t.”

 

“Could you two stop bickering?” Tsubaki interrupted them, sending little airballs at them, which felt like little pebbles. “I don’t think it’s healthy. The three of us are working as a team now and I, for one, would rather not listen to you two bicker on and on for our entire mission. Alright?”

 

They both looked at Tsubaki, and then each other, and sighed. Soul grumbled something under his breath and went back to healing Maka, who grumbled in response. There wasn’t much getting through to them.

 

Tsubaki smiled softly at Maka, who smiled back.

 

“So, Tsubaki,” Maka said, “would you mind telling me about what it’s like living at the air temples?”

 

Tsubaki sat up straighter and smiled, obviously excited about the topic.

 

“It’s really nice. All the other airbenders are there and we’d play airball when we weren’t on missions. Some days we’d go out on our gliders and just fly around for hours, and we wouldn’t come back until the master had to drag us away. It was all fun and games though, we didn’t cause any actual problems. Well, _I_ didn’t cause problems. I can’t say the same for Jackie though, sometimes she would go around with one of the boys there, Blaise, and she and him would just wreak havoc on the place. It was really funny, up until the master found out. Then we all got yelled at for it, since nobody was going to put the blame on the two of them. I think that the master knew that it was her and Blaise, but he never actually called them out for it.”

 

“So the airbenders, there’s more of you guys now?” Soul asked, starting to wrap up his healing session with Maka by steaming the ice mold around Maka’s leg.

 

“There was a lot of kids born in the past twenty or so years. There’s so many kids who range from my age to fourteen. There’s no worry of us going extinct anymore. There’s obviously not as many airbenders as there is airbenders, but there’s a good amount of us. We might be catching up to the waterbenders, which is nice,” Tsubaki replied, starting to drain the water out of the makeshift tub by putting it back into the containers they’d stored the water in.

 

“Alright Maka, stand on up,” Soul told her, putting his hands out so she could steady herself. All he could hope was that her leg was going to function and feel better.

 

Maka grabbed both of his hands, and he pulled her up a little bit while she put a considerable amount of weight on her bad leg. Her leg gave out, and she almost collapsed back into the pit, but Soul quickly reached out and grabbed her wrapping his arm around her middle section.

 

“Fuck,” she muttered, “sorry about that.”

 

“Don’t be so rash,” He told her, “you’re not going to heal immediately, and if you don’t take it easier, you’ll make it worse.”

 

She sighed and started lifting herself off of Soul, albeit wobbly. “Thank you,” she said, her hands holding his mid forearms. Maka didn’t look up.

“No problem,” Soul said, leading her out of the tub and into the other room.

 

* * *

 

 

“Maka! Come on, we have to get going or we won’t make it to the village by sundown!” Soul shouted, jogging down the hallway and walking into Maka’s little corner she’d made for herself.

 

“I told you I was just about ready, I’m just trying to get my pigtails correct. If I’m going to be away, I’d like my hair to stay out of my face. It’s distracting”

 

“Cut it off then and let’s get going,” He joked, while Maka pulled her left pigtail tight. He looked at her, “Good to go?”

 

“Yup.”

 

“Then let’s get to it,” Soul said, putting his hands out to help her up.

 

“I can do it myself, but thank you for the offering,” Maka told him. She shifted her position and pushed herself up with her hands, resting her weight on the knee of her good leg. Soul smirked and swooped in, grabbing her around the waist and throwing her over his shoulder. She shrieked and pounded her hands on his back.

 

“This isn’t fair! You didn’t even give me a chance!” Maka squeaked, letting her body go limp. She huffed.

 

“You were taking too long and we need to leave,” He told her. The two walked like that, Maka thrown over his shoulder to the exit.

 

“Well, this is an interesting new development.” Tsubaki laughed, helping Maka off of Soul’s shoulder.

 

“It’s one that I sure wasn’t expecting,” Maka muttered, adjusting her standing position. The three of them continued out of the cave and made their way to the exit, which opened up to a large forest. Maka inhaled deeply, not having gotten to go outside much since joining the team.

 

“Well,” Soul spoke up, “Let’s get going,”

* * *

 

 

The three of them walked along the side of a creek, Soul bending little droplets of water in and out of the stream, sometimes weaving it through the rock formations or bending it out of the moss. Tsubaki played with leaves, floating them up and down, sometimes twirling them around her. Maka strayed in the back, limping along with the group, determined to keep up with them.

 

“Dude, just pick up a big stick and use it as a cane. It’ll help you a lot.” Soul said, slowing the group down. Maka huffed, grabbed a tall stick off the ground, and then showed Soul that they immediately would snap.

 

“They don’t work.”

 

“Well you could just be more gentle.”

 

“They’re weak and dead; they’re useless.”

 

Soul groaned and pulled his hands over his face, sitting himself down on a medium sized rock in the area. “We’re taking a break then,” He told her. Tsubaki stopped playing with leaves and floated onto the ground, perfectly happy with stopping.

 

“We have to keep going! We’ve only been walking for like, two hours. We need to make it to the village and taking breaks isn’t going to do anything,”

 

“Relax Maka. This is the first break we’re taking. Just because you think you don’t need a break, doesn’t mean the rest of us don’t need one.”

 

“We need to keep moving.” Maka insisted, tilting her chin up.

 

“And you need to rest your leg. You have to be able to fight if it comes to that, and it just might, so you can’t be in pain then”

 

Maka huffed and sat down on the ground. She’d never tell them, but she felt immediate relief in her leg. It was always this sharp, pulling pain in the center of her calf. It was miserable, and just a little bit gross.

 

“You sure you didn’t need this?” Soul asked with a smirk, and she stuck her tongue out at him.

 

“Hey Maka! What if you bent yourself a staff. It’d help you walk, there’s a ton of rocks around, and it’ll look pretty cool,” Tsubaki suggested, quickly suspending herself up. Maka’s eyes lit up, and she rose.

 

Maka placed her hands in on the ground, legs in a deep stance. She wouldn’t admit it, but spirits, this _killed_. She moved her hands upward in a sharp motion and pulled her leg up to her chest. She stayed there for a moment, and then dropped her foot, shifting her center of gravity to the left. A large hunk of rock shot out of the ground and Maka proceeded to lead it away from the hole she’d just made, walking in a soft circle while keeping her hands sharp and precise. Maka let it drop. She then proceeded to use a series of sharp hand motions, and pulled a decent sized rod of rock out of the boulder.

 

“That was sick.” Soul said, and Tsubaki nodded with him. Maka blushed a little and posed sassily with her new staff. With a quick motion, Maka swiftly sent the bolder back into its pit.

 

“You good?” Soul asked, and she nodded gave him a thumbs up. “Ok, then we’re going to keep going.” He said standing up from the rock he’d been sitting on. He walked on, with Tsubaki and Maka following his stride.

 

* * *

 

 

“I hate this. I hate this. I hat-”

 

“Would you _shut up_ already. It is a boat. I am sorry that they intimidate you but it is how we are making our way to Republic City. End of discussion,” Kid snapped at Jackie. They got along fine, but when it came to complaints, Kid wasn’t having it. Meanwhile, Black*Star was so excited he could throw up.

 

“This is so exciting I’m gonna hurl,” He spoke, walking along in front of Jackie and Kid, his cocky gait somehow even cockier than usual.

 

“So I take it you’ve never been on a boat?” Kid asked, moving up to stand beside him. Black*Star looked down at him and smiled,

 

“Kid, the closest thing to a boat I’ve been on is in a bathtub.” He told him, “I am so excited to see what this is like,”

 

“So I take it you don’t know how to swim then?”

 

“No. There wasn’t any bodies of water to swim in, unless you count a fountain, but Nygus told me that if I went in them I’d get arrested, so I stayed away.”

 

“I guess I’ll just have to teach you then.” Kid told him with a smirk and stuffed his hands in his pockets. Black*Star beamed a smile back at him, and Kid blushed just slightly. Jackie stood behind them, wearing a knowing smile.

 

The three continued onto the pier and made their way toward the boat. It was small, and it wasn’t very fancy, but it was the only thing that they could afford so that allowed them to have food for the next couple of days, as well as the tickets on the way back.

 

“That’s gross,” Jackie said and, in her head, she was basically hugging the pier. She did not want to get onto the boat. She hated being out on the water; she got seasick, and just because this was a river that flowed into a lake didn’t make it any different. Just the thought of stepping onto the boat made her nauseous.

 

“It was our only option,” Kid informed her, although he kept his small rant about their financial situation to himself.

 

“And it’s a great one too. I am hype guys, I am so hype, I have never been more hype in my entire life.” Black*Star cheered excitedly, bouncing back and forth from foot to foot.

 

“Hop on board!” The ship captain told them and Black*Star basically charged, hopping on and standing at the bow. Kid followed him, and knowing that Jackie wasn’t going to follow, he grabbed her wrist. The two made their way onto the ship and Jackie threw herself onto the deck, face down. Kid walked toward Black*Star and sat down next to his legs.

 

“Do you like this?” Kid asked him, peering up at him.

 

Black*Star turned his head down and smiled, “It hasn’t even started moving yet and I’m already having fun. It’s amazing,”

 

Kid smiled back at him. Black*Star sat himself down so that he and Kid were shoulder to shoulder.

 

“You know, when we first met, I thought you were such a prick, but now I see that you’re only a little bit of a prick.” Black*Star told Kid.

 

“Wow. Thank you. I am truly honored by your compliment,” Kid replied with a smirk, and Black*Star nudged his shoulder teasingly.

 

The motor rumbled, and Jackie groaned into the deck, meanwhile Black*Star shot up and looked out over the water.

 

“Next stop! Republic City!” The estranged captain yelled, and they were on their way.

 

* * *

 

 

“I mean, we technically got back here before dusk, we just got a little bit distracted,” Soul told Tsubaki, rubbing the back of his head.

 

“I was worried about you guys. This kid is dangerous and he’s a serious threat, you can’t just run off to fool around and not tell me what you’re doing.” Tsubaki ranted, a disappointed look on her face.

 

“We weren’t fooling around, we got threatened by some dumb gang of dudes and so, like any normal person would do, we beat them up.”

 

“That shouldn’t have taken as long as you guys did,”

 

“Well, actually,” Maka interrupted, “We also stopped to look at the architecture.”

 

“You were the one who said this wasn’t for sight-seeing, Maka” Tsubaki told her, and Maka nodded.

 

“It wasn’t _me_. Apparently Soul’s an architecture kind of guy. Who knew.” Tsubaki sighed at the two of them. Soul was supposed to be the leader, but he was really easily distracted and wasn’t as mature as he liked to think he was. He told her to call him Soul Eater the first time they met, then stuttered, realizing it was a poor decision, and told her to never mention it again. The kid was trying to be edgy, and she guessed that Soul wasn’t even his real name, but rather a name to lead the police off of his trail. She suspected she knew who he really was, but she’d never mention it.

 

“Listen, Fire Nation architecture is really cool, and this is one of the only chances I’m going to have to look at it in my life. The designs are so intricate it’s great,” Soul insisted, looking toward them for approval, although he didn’t receive it.

 

“Whatever, did you find the Demon Sword, Tsubaki?” Maka asked, tilting her head to the side.

 

“No, sorry. I couldn’t track them down. You were right Soul, the kid is elusive. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t exist.”

 

“Well, Maka, you could always use that little technique of yours that you have yet to show anybody,” Soul told her, and Maka sighed.

 

“I don’t think that I can do that. I’ve never met the Demon Sword, nor their partner. I guess I could try though,” She replied, handing off her staff to Soul and crouching down slowly.

 

Maka placed her hand on the ground and closed her eyes, trying to sense the sword and their partner through the earth. She sensed Soul, and she sensed Tsubaki, and she sensed, _something_ familiar, but she couldn’t exactly place it and--there! In the second chapel in the town, and not the one the sword was rumored to hang around.

 

“I found them.” Maka proclaimed and she stood up, taking her staff back from Soul.

 

“Where?” Soul asked, starting to walk in the opposite direction they were supposed to be heading.

 

“In the southern chapel in town. The Demon sword is rumored to hang out at the Northern chapel, but obviously we’ve had it wrong.” Maka informed him, grabbing him by the wrist and leading him in the right direction, Tsubaki followed, riding along next to them on her air scooter. The group moved at a quick but steady pace, and Maka took larger strides than she normally did, causing her staff to make a clanking noise against the pavement.

 

“Tsubaki, the air scooter seems like the ideal way of transportation,” Maka said, practically jogging to keep up with her and Soul. Soul wasn’t a noodle like kid was, but he was lanky enough to have a larger and longer gait than Maka did, and Tsubaki’s air scooter just moved at the pace it did. If there’s one thing Maka didn’t want to do, it was hold the group back, so she continued with her light jog.

 

“It’s nice to have, but it’s pretty hard to use it for things other than fun, games, and general laziness. There’s really no purpose to use it in battle. In fact, a lot of airbending moves and techniques are hard to use in battle. We’re a defensive, pacifistic bunch. We don’t condone violence unless 100% necessary, the same goes for the consumption of meat,”

 

“That’s cool. Us earthbenders just throw rocks around, screw with rock formations, and hope that none of us get crushed in the process. Black*Star and I played this game when we were younger where we’d toss a boulder twice both of our weights between the two of us and we’d make sure it didn’t crush us. It wasn’t the smartest thing I’ll admit, but I wasn’t just going to say no to Black*Star. He’s too convincing, and I might even call him cunning.” Maka replied, quickening her speed a little bit.

 

“The game freaked out our guardians, Sid and Nygus, and after about two rounds Sid would come to the rock away and bring us inside. It usually worked though, because Sid told Black*Star it was time for lunch. Food really gets him excited, also, turn right here”  

 

Tsubaki lead the way and they turned. About two hundred feet away stood a large, ornate chapel, roughly seventy feet high.

 

“Wow.” Soul said, awestruck by how large the chapel was. The whole thing was made out of a grey stone, and it was all stacked up, one on top of the other. There were stained glass windows, the colors red, orange, yellow, and grey being the most prominent, although there was a decent amount of other colors in there too.

 

“Wow is right,” Tsubaki said, her jaw just about slack. The three of them looked on in awe. Maka handed off her staff to Soul again who took it willingly, obviously getting used to her habit of giving it to him. She placed her hand on the ground.

“Damn,” She muttered to herself, “there’s nobody within miles of here anymore. What the hell happened.”

 

“Where’d everybody disappear to?” Soul asked, putting a hand out to help her up off the ground. He handed her her staff, not letting go of her other hand.

 

“My question exactly,” She replied, squeezing his hand. She then let go and lead the three of them toward the door. She heaved a sigh, then pushed on the doors, only to get no slack from them whatsoever. She then pulled and they opened for her. Inside stood a person with choppy pink hair and in all black, except for a choker around their neck, which had a rd base with a fire pendant on it. There was only one way Maka could describe this kid, and that was noodly. They were so slim it was unbelievable, so Maka inferred that they were probably fast and agile, but physical fighting may not be their forte.

 

A man who was older, probably early twenties, sat parallel to them. He had dark curly hair and a dark complexion, and wore all black clothes. He did wear white goggles and sleek white gloves, which contrasted greatly with his other style choices. Maka recognized that the material of the gloves was latex and sighed. However he with those on, she didn’t know. She did know that she’d feel confined and that her sensing abilities would be blurry if she ever wore those.

 

The man, Ragnarok, looked Maka in the eye and sent a menacing smile her way. Chills went up her spine and she clenched her staff tighter.

 

“You ready Tsu--”

 

“The doors only open inward,” The Demon Sword interjected, their hands behind their back, which was arched to the point it was disturbing.

 

“What?” Soul asked, irked at being interrupted by the kid.

 

“The doors only open inward, don’t you listen,” The Demon Sword said again, this time stepping from one foot to the other.

 

“Tsubaki, be careful with this kid. You ready?” He asked her in a whisper, and she nodded back to him. She stepped forward in front of Soul and Maka and she made her way toward Ragnarok and The Demon Sword.

 

“What is it you want?” Ragnarok asked, and Maka was surprised by how squeaky his voice was. It was deep, but it also had a harsh squeak to it. He must’ve done a lot of screaming when he was younger, because it had a very worn effect to it.

 

“I was wondering if I could make a deal with you,” Tsubaki spoke kindly, “We’re a small group of gifted benders fighting for a cause. If you didn’t know, there’s a law that’s been passed in Ba Sing Se which is anti bend--” Tsubaki’s body tightened, and she was unable to move or speak, the only noises that could come out of her mouth were squeaks of terror. Maka and Soul both took on fighting stances.

 

“I suggest you don’t speak anymore, oh wait, you can’t speak,” Ragnarok said, moving his left hand only a twitch.

 

“I thought you said he wasn’t a bender? This dude is dangerous. He bends _blood_.” Maka whispered to Soul, leaning into him.

 

“I didn’t think he was. There was no information about him being a bender at all,” Soul said; he was just as shocked as Maka was, which wasn’t a good thing, because it meant they were in for a fight.

 

“Well I guess you didn’t do your research little tyke,” Ragnarok said at him, and Maka started to wonder whether his bark was worse than his bite, or if he was going to wipe the floor with them.

 

“Ragnarok, don’t be so condescending,” The Sword told the older man, who glared at him.

 

“What was that Crona?” He snarled back, letting Tsubaki out of the hold she was in and dropping her on the floor. Ragnarok raised his fist at Crona threateningly.

 

“Nothing,” Crona spoke meekly, and clenched their hands together.

Tsubaki picked herself up off the floor and stumbled back toward Soul and Maka. Ragnarok simply watched, and laughed at it.

 

“Whaddya say Crona? You wanna have some fun with these little cookies,” Ragnarok asked, cracking his knuckles.

 

“You know I don’t like it when you give people ridiculous nicknames, but I guess,” Crona replied with a huff, took a fighting stance themself.

 

“You good?” Soul asked Tsubaki, and she nodded. “Go get backup, we’ll need it, but we should be able to hold them off for now,” He commanded. Tsubaki sent him a look, but he sent one right back, insisting that he and Maka would be alright without her. She walked toward the doors, pulled them open, and left.

 

“Are _you_ good?” Maka asked Soul, but he gave her a confident smirk back.

 

“Come on, don’t doubt me like that. I’m good. Now be careful, alright?”

 

“You got it.”

 

“You think you can take us on?” Ragnarok snarked, tying his gloves tighter. “You two don’t stand a chance. You’re puny, you’re not very powerful, and blondie’s got a fucking staff and a limp. Do you expect to beat me?”

 

“Not really,” Soul replied honestly, looking Ragnarok directly in the eyes. He was confident that he knew what he was doing, and he was confident that he could outsmart him. Ragnarok quirked his eyebrow.

 

“You’re dumb enough to take me on, knowing you can’t win.” Ragnarok spoke, stepping closer toward Soul. The two sized each other up. Ragnarok was taller and more muscular than Soul, and realistically, better in every way.

 

“Bring it on, spikey,” Soul spat, waggling his eyebrows at him. Ragnarok charged at Soul, doing an uppercut like motion with his left arm and throwing his right arm over and around it. Soul’s body flew across the room and he crashed into the doors.

 

“Soul!” Maka screeched, turning her body to face him. She huffed and turned back around to face Ragnarok and Crona. Crona stood there unfazed while Ragnarok chuckled lowly to himself, as if he was enjoying this, and Maka guessed he probably was.

 

She pounded her staff into the ground and sent a wave of rocks toward Ragnarok and Crona, who were sent flying across the room. Crona was obviously the more agile of the two, having landed on their feet, where as Ragnarok landed on his ribs and let out a loud groan.

 

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Crona said softly, and rushed at Maka. They sent a blast of fire, that _was_ black, at Maka, who proceeded to dodge it and send another rock in Crona’s direction. She pulled her hands in an upward motion and then pushed, and a large chunk of the beautiful marble floors was destroyed to be used as a weapon.

 

“You good, Soul?” Maka hollered toward him, not daring to look back at him, because having her guard down wasn’t a smart decision at the moment.

 

“Yeah.” He grunted, lifting himself back up off the floor and getting back into a fighting stance. He’d never seen anybody bend water like Ragnarok before. His movements were sharp and precise, they didn’t flow like any other waterbending techniques he’d seen before. It looked like a mix of fire and earth bending, the way he was so intense with what he was doing. Soul hadn’t really thought this out fully, because this guy was a huge threat, and so was Crona.

 

“You’re back up little guy?” Ragnarok teased, sticking his tongue out and wiggling it around while pulling on his own ears.

 

“What the fuck?” Soul said, and he started walking in slow soft circles; Maka observed that he was just a _little_ like a ballerina. “I don’t care how powerful you are; what you just did with your face was nasty, please, never do it again.” Soul finished, and he sucked almost all of the moisture out of the air. The room became extremely humid, and in that moment, you could see Crona’s hair fluff up. Soul threw a wave of water at Ragnarok and Crona.

 

Ragnarok held it up and froze it and Soul took that as an opening. He charged up the ice and rolled over the top of the wave. He jumped off and back into Ragnarok and Crona’s vision, though he was now out of Maka’s. Maka proceeded to weave her way around all of the ice, which she knew she wouldn’t be able to walk on. She made her way to a spot where Crona was in her vision, but where she was still protected by a layer of ice.

 

“You shouldn’t sneak up on people like that. It’s rude, and it makes me nervous.” Crona said, and shot a rush of fire out of their hand, melting part of the ice wall.

 

Maka flinched and scrunched her eyes together. She threw her hands at the ground and sent a ripple through it, dropping her staff and breaking up the marble floors even more than they already were.

 

Crona fought right back, dodging away from her attack. This kid was agile and she couldn’t land a single hit on him, the same went for Soul. He and Ragnarok seemed to be of equal power, Ragnarok desperately trying to lock up Soul’s body to overtake his soul, while Soul resisted and continued to throw half-assed attacks at Ragnarok. Maka assumed that if Soul wasn’t in such a difficult circumstance, he’d probably be better equipped to fight.

 

“Are you alright?” She hollered to Soul, trying to grab her staff off the ground without dropping her guard; she didn’t want to give Crona any openings to attack.

 

“Yeah,” He grunted out, “I bet Kid and the rest of the crew are probably having a paradise vacation compared to this,” Soul laughed, taking the situation a little more lightly than he should’ve. He shifted his stance, placing his left foot behind his right and moving his arms and torso in a rapid motion, shattering the ice wall and sending it to the ground in shards. Maka ran to grab her staff, using Soul’s bending as a distraction.

 

“Oh, I don’t think so,” Ragnarok whispered to himself, sharply twisting his left hand and locking Maka’s body in place. He chuckled sickly, tightening his hold on her. Maka gasped as her body froze against her will and dropped her staff. Her mind was screaming at her, telling her to move, to talk, to do something, but all she could do was stand there.

 

“Ready, little lady,” Ragnarok smirked at her, moving closer. The two exchanged glances and Maka noticed that his entire eye, not just the iris and pupil, but also the cornea, was black. She shivered, then felt a tugging in her left shoulder and then a burst of pain. She felt blood drip down her back.

 

“I am going to rip you apart from the inside out,” He threatened her and she felt the burn marks on her face start to pull. Tears dripped down her face and her lungs screamed for a breath that wasn’t labored. The burn marks tore and Maka felt her vision start to slip as Ragnarok ripped open a large gash on her right hip.

 

“Oh no you don’t!” Soul shouted and jumped in front of her, getting Ragnarok to release his grip on Maka, who crashed into the floor. In a fury, Ragnarok tugged his right arm backward in a quick, sharp motion and ripped a large gash in Soul’s chest, sending him straight onto the ground.

 

“Soul!” Maka shrieked, ignoring her own injuries and rushing over to him.

 

Ragnarok cackled and turned back to Crona, who was sitting on the floor staring up at the ceiling, watching the light flood through the stained glass.

 

“Our work here is done,” Crona mumbled, stood up, and themself up through the stained glass, shattering it. Ragnarok followed, bending himself out on wave of pink tinted water. Maka shook Soul’s body, continuously slapping him on the cheeks.

 

“Get out of here,” Soul muttered sleepily, urging her to leave the chapel. She shook her head ‘no’ and protested. His eyelids fluttered and Maka saw his eyes roll back into his head slightly

 

“Come on Soul, you gotta stay awake alright,” She spoke in a jumble, “Tsu’ll be back soon and she’ll have help and you’ll be just fine,” She pulled off the fabric belt that held her shirt together and wrapped it around his torso, trying to create pressure and keep Soul’s blood in his body and his body intact.

 

Soul exhaled heavily, a sleepy smirk on his face. She wanted to smack it off.

 

“You’ve got this alright, Soul? We’re gonna go back to the cave and somebody’s gonna find a way to heal you. You’re healthy ok? You’re perfectly healthy and we just have a slight setback. You just have a really really big papercut. Yeah, a huge papercut. But you’re okay right?”

 

Soul sputtered and sent a smile to Maka. She gripped his hand tightly.

 

“You aren’t dying. You are not allowed to die and you definitely aren’t going to,” She squeezed his hand tighter, trying to get him to squeeze back or something. Maka pressed her other hand to the ground and sensed for vibrations. She felt nothing.

 

“They’re almost here,” She fibbed and ran her thumb across the top of his hand. Her knuckles were white and her fingers were turning blue from how tight her grip was. She loosened it, realizing this might be causing harm to Soul but continued to slide her thumb on it.

 

“Tell me ‘bout yourself. Something happy,” Soul slurred with a smile.

 

“We aren’t doing this. You _aren’t_ dying.”

 

“C’mon Maka. Please?”

 

“Fine. Uh, well, when ‘Star and I were younger he got hurt a lot. Like, a lot. Like this one time we were out and he said he was going to bring me to this place that was really cool. Yeah, well he brought me to the dump,” Maka felt Soul’s chest rumble from laughter, “and he brought me pretty far in too. Turns out he’d gone earlier that week or something, because he brought me too see this family of salamander-cats.” she inhaled deeply. Maka was absolutely horrified. Soul was gushing blood and all she could do to help was talk.  “They had made themselves a nest in there. Unlucky for him though, because the mom showed up and bit his finger. Took off a hunk of it too. So now he’s missing the tip of his left pinky fin-” Soul inhaled sharp and his eyes slowly drifted shut. His hand lost its grip on Maka’s and she felt her body shudder in defeat.

 

“No.”

 

 

* * *

 

“That is _so_ cool!” Black*Star whooped, jumping off the ground a little bit in excitement.

 

“I admit that is impressive,” Kid spoke, nodding his head in response. Patty had placed her hands on Liz’s feet and rubbed her hands on them, causing static to run through Liz’s body and her hair to puff out.

 

“The magic of figuring out how to bend static. I figured since Patty can bend lightning, which is static electricity, that she could figure out some little tricks to throw people off.” Liz told them.

 

“And I can mess with the power lines, which usually sends the police in a totally opposite direction, because people all over the city start calling in, and then there’s no light, and when it’s dark, violence rises.” Patty nodded along.

 

“So you’ve basically been throwing the police off your trail by putting them on your trail?” Jackie asked, obviously impressed.

 

“Yup!” Patty cheered, “Pretty neat huh? Liz thought of that one, she’s the brains of our plans. She’s the brains and I’m the buff!”

 

“I must admit, I didn’t think you would all be so willing to just come back to our unofficial headquarters. It didn’t seem like a plausible plan, but apparently I was wrong,” Kid spoke.

 

“Listen, we only got into this gang business because we had to. It was our only option at that point. It’s easy to get in, but to get out you have to go through hell and back. Not only did you guys offer us an out, but you’re also running from the police, so it’s a win-win situation.”

 

“I suppose that’s a good way to look at i-”

 

“Move!” A man with a screw through his head demanded, rushing into the cave with Soul’s body floating in behind him. Tsubaki had floated him back while the man bent the ground so it would work as a moving sidewalk. Maka had sat on the ground next to them, trying to keep her composure while also trying to stop the bleeding on her own body. The cut on her face was still bleeding, as the one on her leg. She’d taken off her shirt and wrapped it around her leg to create pressure, tying a knot in it so she could tend to the cut on her face. She merely held her hand there, making sure that she held the cut closed.

Kid jumped out of the way as did the rest of them. Maka ran in front of the man, leading him back toward the makeshift conference room. Black*Star observed that, one, her shirt was on her leg instead of her torso and, two, her shirt was covered in blood. By the amount of blood her shirt had absorbed, Black*Star made the assumption that her leg was probably shredded.

 

Black*Star followed the four of them to the back. Maka bent the door open for the man, let Tsubaki and Soul’s body go in, and then bent it shut, walking slightly backwards, hitting the wall, and slinking down to the ground. Black*Star sat down beside her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. Maka’s body sank into him and immediately broke down. Sobs racked her body as she cried into Black*Star’s shoulder. He just held her tighter.

 

“I can’t believe the nerve of that kid,” Maka rambled on, “they didn’t have any care for human life. They just slashed around like a machine,”

 

Black*Star sat with her motionless, not knowing how to respond. “I mean,” she started again, “how can somebody just _do_ that. They--Soul isn’t okay. Soul isn’t okay ‘Star, and he’s gotta live; he has to. We just joined up and made a team. He can’t die, and Stein knows what he’s doing. Stein’s like, a medical genius. He has to save him. He has to,” Maka drawled off.

 

Black*Star connected the dots and figured out that Stein was the man who’d come in with Tsu and Maka. “Alright,” he spoke, pushing himself up off the ground and putting out both his hands to help Maka up. “C’mon, Soul’s gonna be good, and we’re gonna fix your leg. It’s gross lookin’, no offense or anything”

 

“I guess,” She sniffled, grasping his forearms and pushing herself up with her uninjured leg, stumbling a bit. Black*Star quickly reacted and threw his arm around her waist, pulling her into his side.

 

“Thanks,” She muttered, slinging her arm over his shoulder.

* * *

 

“How’s it going guys?”  Liz asked, entering the room empty, albeit there was a large rock table of sorts, where Maka was laid, plus a bucket of ice and a couple other first aid materials.

 

“Maka isn’t dead yet, so I’m doing a pretty good job expectation wise,” Black*Star said, continuing to clean out the gashes on Maka’s leg.

 

“Shit man, that is nasty,” Liz said, moving closer to them to get a closer look. “That needs to be stitched up, you know that right?”

 

“Well duh” Black*Star replied, “But I figured me sticking a needle and thread in Maka’s leg would probably just make things worse,”

 

“That’s fair. Kid knows how to do stitches; I’ll go grab him,” Liz said, and she was out before Black*Star could protest.

 

“Well if she was gonna go and get him, I could’ve just solved how to do it myself. Doing stitches can’t be that hard, right?”

 

“Please don’t use me as practice,” Maka muttered, her eyes closed .

 

“Oh shit! you’re not knocked out?”

 

“Nope,” she spoke through her teeth. “Just let Kid do the stitches, ok? My leg was already messed up enough. This just made things way worse. I’m sure it’ll work out, but this isn’t a risk I want to take. If it gets infected, I’ll be screwed.”

 

“Fine,” he huffed and then went back to cleaning out the cuts on her leg. Maka winced at first, but eventually relaxed into it.

 

“Alright, I am here. Liz said you needed help with the sutures on Maka’s leg. Is that correct?”

 

“It’s all you buddy,” Black*Star told Kid, walking up to him with a needle in hand and giving him a pat on the shoulder.

 

“Alright, Maka, I am going to perform the sutures on your leg. It is going to be painful, I won’t lie to you. Would you rather I talk you through it or-”

“Just get it done with. Whatever way works best for you, do that.”

 

“Got it. Also, here,” Kid handed her a cloth, “you are going to want to bite down on that. I am sure you have experienced things more intense than this, but there’s not adrenaline rushing through you right now, so it’s going to hurt a good amount.” She sighed and placed it in her mouth. Kid sent her a glance and with her eyes, Maka agreed.

 

She felt heard Black*Star and Kid wince and then felt an immense pain in her leg. Everything went black.

 

* * *

 

“Don’t you think she’s been out for a little longer than she should be? It’s been a couple hours since you finished,” Black*Star said.

 

“She was exhausted though, let her rest. She’ll be fine, so don’t worry about it. It was just some stitches.” Kid told him, sitting down on the ground and crossing his legs.

 

“Yeah yeah, whatever” Black*Star grumped, crossing his arms and slumping down the wall.

 

“Quit sulking and do something productive while waiting.”

 

“There’s nothing _to_ do. This cave is boring; I’d rather watch paint dry than live out this bland existence,”

 

“There are things to do. You could organize the pantry,”

 

“Why would I do that when I could be doing something else,”

 

“But you just said there was nothing t-”

“I’d rather do nothing that do _chores_ ,”

 

“Why are you so fussy? You asked for a suggestion. You said you wanted something to do; you never said it had to be fun.”

“That was implied.”

 

“It was not implied,”

 

“Was too.”

 

“No Black*Star, it wasn-”

 

“It was implied, just live with that. You didn’t catch my drift; most people don’t, since I’m so advanced,”

 

“You are about as advanced as a turtle.”

 

“Well, turtles aren’t dumb, they’re pretty smart for an animal.”

  
“That was not meant to be a compliment,”

 

“Compliment taken. Thank you. I appreciate it,”

 

“You are completely insolent,” Kid finished off the conversation, crossing his arms and leaning backward so that he was slouched against the wall without his lower back touching it. He glanced at Black*Star, who glanced back and sent an almost passive aggressive smirk back at him. Kid huffed and Black*Star just pursed his lips.

 

* * *

 

When Soul opened his eyes, he saw blur. The world around him spun and his head pounded; his body felt like he’d been crushed. He felt everything and nothing all at once. He leaned forward, pushing himself up off the table.

 

“I’d advise against sitting up,” a man with graying hair and stripes of scars sprinkled all over his body spoke, placing a hand in Soul’s wrist. Soul stopped and laid back down, now recognizing the sharp feeling in his gut.

 

“You took a good beating out there. You're lucky Tsubaki and I arrived when we did. I’d say five more minutes and you would not be here right now.”

 

“Sorry,” Soul grunted out, closing his eyes again.

 

“I know you're trying to do some world saving here, but being so reckless as to injure yourself on an early mission was just plain dumb of you.”

 

“Alright old man I get it, quit nagging me would ya. My head’s killing me.”

 

“Be more careful next time, would you? I’ll leave you alone, but somebody wants to see you and I doubt that she’ll go away until you speak to her,”

 

“Fine, fine. I just, want to go back to sleep.”

 

“Maka, come in,” Stein said, bending the wall open and ushering her in. He shut the door behind her, exiting and leaving the two alone.

 

“You're so dumb!” Maka squeaked out, pounding a fist down onto the platform Soul was resting on. “Sorry,” she then spoke, “you weren’t actually that dumb. It’s kinda your job, but it was reckless and dangerous and I wish you’d been more careful. We didn’t even need to recruit that kid. We need a firebender, but not so bad that you’re willing to throw your life away for it. Come on Soul, that’s just plain stupid,”

 

“Yeah, it was stupid of me. I’m aware. The gray haired guy lectured me about it,”

 

“Well, good.” Soul, whose eyes were closed, could tell that Maka was frantic. The pitch of her voice was higher than usual and he could hear her pacing along the floor. “Maka, calm down. I’m fine you know.”

“Yeah, I know but you’ve got this,” she paused and Soul could feel her wince, “-this scar. All down your torso. It’s bad, Soul,”

 

“Well.” He spoke, “There are worse things. I’m not dead. Maybe girls will be into it.” Maka snorted, “Seriously, Maka. I promise I’m good.”

 

“You’re good?”

  
“Yeah, I’m good.” he grasped her hand into his.


End file.
